


Hell's Bells

by Not_A_Valid_Opinion



Category: Disenchantment (TV 2018)
Genre: Cigars, Exorcist (Big Jo), Gen, I take requests as well, Internalized Homophobia, One-Shots, Smoking, Stacianne LeBlatt, YES she's in one of these chapter I went there I love her, because we only see glimpses of that distrust in the show and I need more of their dynamic, hints of Bean/Elfo but nothing for real, mostly Luci centric and revolving around his relationship with Elfo, slow burn to friendship between these two, who kind of hates him, will update tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-07-02 19:53:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15803454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_A_Valid_Opinion/pseuds/Not_A_Valid_Opinion
Summary: A collection of one-shots surrounding Bean, Elfo and Luci as they go through everyday life through the castle- only, Elfo can't get over his distrust of Luci.Descriptions for each chapter will be at the beginning of each chapter, and will all mainly focus on the dynamic between our favorite elf and demon.





	1. Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Luci tries to wake Bean up, and Elfo thinks she should be allowed to sleep in.

“Wake uppppp,” a familiar demon voice is demanding from some ways off. Elfo peels his eyes open and looks for the source of the noise.

Of course, it’s Luci. Only, he’s sitting on Bean’s chest, yelling in the face of her sleeping form. “Wake upwakeupwakeuppppp.”

Elfo rubs his eyes. “Luci? Can you… shut up?”

Luci laughs. “No,” he scoffs. “Wakey wakey time, Bean! Let’s go!”

Elfo groans, flopping back down in bed. “Go where? Where, this early in the morning?”

“None of your business. I’m talking to Bean.”

“Bean is asleep! She is a _very_ deep sleeper, and she drank a lot last night, no thanks to you!”

This seems to get the demons attention. He turns on her chest and hops down to the side of the bed, glaring down at Elfo. “Excuse you,” he bites out, “I think you mean _all_ thanks to me! She wouldn’t have been confident enough in herself to drink out that whole bar without my helpful encouragement!”

Elfo groans. It’s too early in the morning for this, but he stands up in his bed, which was just a dogs bed with a foot pillow and a thin towel for a blanket. He stomps over to Bean's bed anyway. “Ya, well, she drank so much I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to get her back to the Castle safely. She could have died!”

The demon is pretending to cry, making whining noises in a tone that mocks Elfo and falsely rubbing his eyes. Then, he chuckles. “Ah, good times. Bean! Giddy’up!” He goes to hop back onto her chest, but Elfo hops up and grabs his tail, yanking him back down to the ground with him. The two of them tumble over each other, and Elfo falls over while Luci lands on all fours.

“What is your deal, man?” Luci demands, standing up and brushing himself off.

“My deal,” Elfo bites out, “Is that you keep getting her to willing do things that will get her killed! She may like the rush of it all, but you aren’t accounting for the crash. What if one day she drinks so much she doesn’t wake up? Is that what you want?”

Luci rolls his eyes. “Oh, stop being so dramatic. She’s breathing, she’s fine, and she can handle herself. Get off my back.”

Elfo crosses his arms, blocking his path to Bean.

Luci clenches his fists. “Oh, you want to go, little man? Okay, let’s go. But let’s wake Bean up first, so she can come with us.”

“Seriously, where do you want to go with her?” Elfo has to ask.

“Nowhere! I made her coffee to help her with her hangover, and I wanted her to drink it before it gets cold,” Luci explains bitterly, pointing with his tail over to the cup on the stand by Bean’s head.

Elfo follows his tail and sees the cup, frowning before looking back at Luci. “I don’t see any steam coming from it,” he observes.

Luci pushes him and hops back on the bed, walking over to the cup to inspect it. “Ya, thanks to you. Sleeping Beauty over here let it go cold.”

Elfo grabs the cup from his paws, earning a sharp look from the demon. The elf sniffs the cup distrustfully, wanting to check if he’d been telling the truth. One sniff is all it takes to know that he’s not.

Elfo reels back at the smell. “You didn’t,” he exclaims, and at the demon’s poker face he takes a small sip to test his theory.

He spits it out in disgust. “Oh my gosh, you did! This isn’t coffee, it’s whiskey! You gave her a full glass of _whiskey_ first thing in the morning after a night of hard _drinking?”_

Luci has a smirk on his face. “Uh, ya. What better way to cure a hangover than to kickstart it back into being drunk?”

Elfo lunges, knocking the demon back onto Bean, who finally, _finally_ starts to wake up.

Only to find Elfo punching the shit out of a smirking but morally unphased demon.

Bean’s first thoughts that morning are, _it’s too early for this shit._

 


	2. Freezing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elfo isn't used to being cold, and Luci is... Nice to Elfo? For once?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for two short chapters in a row. The next part I wrote is kind of long (about 4000 words) so I'm considering making it a two-parter in this story by just splitting it in two chapters. I'm way more used to writing long stories, and I realize nothing is stopping me from doing that here, too. Anyway, enjoy this chapter! More to come!

Elfo woke chipirly as always. Of course, not  _ always  _ always.

Back home, he would wake to a song in the sky and would shove his pillow over his ears, leaving nothing but a bitter taste in his mouth for the rest of his days until he finally escaped the painfully happy place. 

Now, though, there was no need to fake his smile or to wake with dread. His eyes open, and he stretches, a real smile on his face. 

Here, he could wake to anything other than familiar. He could wake to a loud crash (he did once, when Luci knocked a pot off of the counter, totally on purpose no matter _ what _ he says), or to a whine of pain (like that one morning he’d suffered through the thought,  _ was Bean  _ still _ throwing up? _ ) or even to nothing at all.

He could eat whatever he wanted that was available to him. He could drink anytime other than during the dark of night for reasons other than a lack of other options. He could follow Bean to the end of the world, and he would, because that’s what he chooses. 

He was free. 

...zing. 

He was freezing. 

He pulls his arms closer to himself, looking around for his duvet and pulling it further on top of himself. 

“What… the heck?” he mumbles, uncomfortable. 

“Oh look, the little green guy’s awake.” 

Elfo takes a second to register the voice behind his makeshift bed (it was just a dog’s bed- he told himself it was because it was all that would fit him, but he thinks the king just didn’t want him to have his own room and bed. Maybe he liked the idea of having someone watch over his daughter where he couldn’t. Either way, he didn’t mind. The bed was soft enough to go around) and once it clicks, he decides its not worth it to turn around and face it. “You know d-darn well my name is Elfo,” he chitters, rubbing his hands along his arms. 

Luci hops off of his spot on the windowsill and rounds around to face him. “Oh y-y-ya?” the demon mocks. His eyes narrow, scanning up and down Elfo’s shivering form. “You look cold,” he observes. 

A week ago, Elfo would have asked, _ ‘what’s cold?’ _ but after he’d taken his tumble down the waterfall (thank those nice crabs for saving him) he’d needed hours to warm up. He’d enjoyed the new sensation, even though it hadn’t been the most pleasant.

A lot of things were different here than home. Most of these things he’d learned the hard way, but he wouldn’t have rathered it any other way. After all, if he wanted easy, he would have just stayed with Kissy. Though, to him, that was harder than anything- even the cold. 

There was no such thing as ‘cold’ in Elfwood. It was always the perfect temperature. 

He tugs his thin blanket further up his body. 

“I am,” he mumbles under the mouthful of soft material. “W-where’s Bean?” 

Luci sits on the floor ahead of him, pulling a cigar out of nowhere and lighting it with his touch. He takes a long drag, and Elfo holds his breath to phase out the dirty scent as he exhales. He’s tried to tell Luci many times how disgusting the habit was, pulling out examples such as what happened to his friend Cigaro, but he never seemed to care. He’d always played the demon card, claiming that he couldn’t physically suffer the same fate as Cigaro, and that Cigaro was “just a big pussy, anyway”, but Elfo wasn’t sure if that was actually true or if he’d just wanted him to shut up.

Either way, Luci coughed lightly. “She’s probably taking a nice, hot bath. I’m thinking I’ll go join her. Not because I’m cold or anything, y’know, demons don’t get cold. I just like the bubbles,” he admits, letting out a quiet chuckle. “I’d offer for you to come, but that would be, like, really weird. Nobody wants that.” 

He starts to walk away, but Elfo growls at the back of his throat. “Oh, c-come on, Luci. Why is it so c-cold? I didn’t fall d-down a waterfall again, did I?” 

Luci laughs, waving a paw dismissively. “Na, it’s just getting colder outside. Seasons changing and all that. It snowed last night, you know. Snow,” he says, “is one heck of a weird thing. So cold and deadly and yet, so soft and moldable. Not to mention, anybody that drinks it gets fresh, clean water for free. But also it’s so cold most people just die from exposure to it. Weird, right?” 

Elfo pales considerably. “Exposure? Can… Can I die from it?” 

Luci shrugs. “Probably.” Elfo lets out a squeak, and Luci holds up his paws. “Okay, okay, relax. I mean if you’re outside in it for long enough. You’ll be fine in here, just… here,” he hops onto Bean’s bed, grabbing one of her fluffy, blue blanket covers and dragging it over to the elf. 

Elfo takes the offered blanket with a shaking hand, looking at Luci in surprise. 

The demon moves over to the fireplace and drops his cigar onto it, then breathes on it, catching sparks on his hot breath and starting up the flames. Elfo watches as Luci pokes around in the wood with his paws until it catches properly, then looks back at Elfo, a bored expression on his face. 

“There. Pull your bitch bed over here and sit, just don’t burn the whole place down. I’m gonna go take a bath.”

Elfo is stunned. Luci was being… nice? He was keeping him warm, grabbing blankets and starting a fire for him. He could have made Elfo get up and grab those things for himself. Elfo knows he normally would have. 

So why… would he do that? 

Luci rolls his eyes. “You’re gonna catch flies like that. Close your jaw, you weirdo, I can be nice.” 

Elfo can't help but laugh at that, almost instinctively. The demon narrows his eyes, and Elfo’s cheeks grow red. “Sorry,” he mumbles, then gets up to drag his bed closer to the heat. Making himself comfortable, he plops back down in his bed and curls up in the blankets. 

“No- dude,” Luci grumbles, marching over to him and pushing the blankets further onto his body. “If you sit that close with the blankets nearly touching the wood, you're gonna set this whole place on fire. Sit back a bit, will ya?” 

“Oh.” 

“Ya, ‘oh.’ I sleep here too, you know, so don’t go burning this room down.” 

Elfo rubs the back of his neck, not sure entirely what response Luci is looking for. Apparently, he wasn’t looking for any response at all, because he turns to go. 

“Luci?” he says. “Um… Thanks.” 

The demon freezes. He turns back to Elfo, daggers in his expression, but Elfo just smiles back. 

He leaves, and Elfo pulls his blanket further from the fire while still keeping close to it, letting the heat waves engulf him peacefully. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you liked! I really love hearing what people have to say about the things I write. If you have any suggestions for a chapter, hmu as well!
> 
> Also, do you guys think I should split the long chapter into two? Or should I just leave it as one long chapter?


	3. 'Napped (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luci gets kidnapped. Naturally, this becomes more Elfo's problem than anybody else's- since he gets kidnapped as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part one of this chapter! I decided I would split it up so it wasn't so long all of a sudden- sorry if it ends at sort of an unnatural pause, I couldn't really find an even spot to split it :/ My chapters will start getting longer, I think, but it really depends on the idea and how much space it takes up. If anybody has any prompts they wanna give me, I will happily consider them!

“Where’s Luci?” Bean asks, and Elfo looks around, then shrugs. Bean frowns, and starts to call out his name. 

The sound would be hard to hear over the bustling crowd of people. They’d only been heading back to the castle, but the path there was huddled with passerbys this time of day- especially, this specific day. It was Swap Day. People were out selling whatever they had to be sold, buying whatever they could afford, running from people trying to sell things to them and chasing people to sell their stuff to. The streets were chaos. 

Normally, on days like these, Bean would have cut through the alleyways. However, not two minutes ago when they’d passed them, they’d seen some “fucked up shit, and that means a lot coming from me,”as their demon had noted about the pathway, and decided that it would not be worth it.

Now, he was missing. 

Bean kneels down to Elfo to try and speak without her words being drowned out by the clamour. “We need to find him,” Bean says, and Elfo is grateful for his large ears to help him hear her, “He must have gotten mixed up in the crowd. It’s gonna be really hard to spot him like this- we should get up higher.” 

Elfo nods, and Bean grabs his side to lift him up so he’s sitting on the crook of her arm. Together, they start to head up the hill as Bean looks for a sturdy structure to climb up. She finds a stone-pillared gift shop and as she begins to shimmy up the post, Elfo crawls onto her back to free her hands, keeping an eye out for their dark little friend (though he personally thought ‘friend’ was a strong word). 

She climbs in silence for a while- then Elfo, for a split second, sees him. 

“There!” he exclaims, pointing. Bean freezes, trying to twist her head and swearing under her breath as she realizes it might be hard to do without falling. 

“Where? I can’t- fuck!” she grumbles, and Elfo sees him again, and he’s… 

“He’s running towards us!” Elfo exclaims, attempting to gesture towards the rapidly approaching shape below them weaving through the crowd, and Bean leans out from the pillar to try and get a better view. Her movement pushes her back out, and Elfo, who was only holding on with one hand, starts to tip over. His eyes go wide and he attempts to grab back onto her shoulders, but he’d already lost his grip. 

With a scream, he falls off of her back. 

“Elfo!” She yells, and before she’s even finished yelling his name he’s already hit the floor. Mostly because she hadn’t climbed that far up yet, but to a tiny elf, it had seemed much further. 

He takes a moment, blinking, to realize he wasn’t falling anymore. It takes him another moment to stop screaming. It takes yet another moment to realize even though he wasn’t falling anymore, he also hadn’t hit the ground. 

“Oh,” he says to himself, looking underneath himself. “Bean! I found him!” 

“Get _ off _ ,” Luci growls, twisting to kick Elfo off. “Shit, he’s-” 

Luci doesn’t finish his sentence. A net shoots out from the crowd, ensnaring the two of them. It tightens the moment it hits them, forcing Luci against Elfo’s chest as the two of them are compressed by the net. Elfo lets out a yelp in surprise, while Luci’s chin hitting Elfo’s breastplate emits from him a sharp  _ oof.  _

“Guys!” Bean yells, hopping down from the pillar and making a grab for the net. Before her hand makes contact, it retracts; Luci and Elfo are tugged back into the surmassing crowd, the two of them small enough to pass through the many moving legs. 

“Bean!” Luci and Elfo cry out as they retract. 

They’re dragged across the floor for a few moments, being batted around by feet and kicked by a man with no shoes into woman who doesn’t see them and shoves her way past their net. Eventually, they stop at a pair of clean, crisp black boots. How they managed to stay so shiny while surrounded with so much dust and dirt, Elfo had no clue, and he couldn’t help himself from following the boot up the leg’s covered with a neat black robe, up to- 

Oh. 

Of course, it would be him. 

“B-Bean!” Elfo cries out, and the Exorcist extends his arm to drop sparkles down from his hand. They fall over Elfo’s face, and after a moment of fear, a flickering thought of how pretty it looks, and a glimpse of Luci’s concerned eyes, Elfo’s own eyes start to feel heavy. “Bean?” He whispers. 

Then the world goes black. 

* * *

 

A jolt shakes his world, and Elfo’s eyes are forced to open. 

“Wh…” He bats his eyes, trying to focus them, “what’s...” 

“Wake up, sweaty. It’s bad enough I’m stuck next to you at this proximity for this long, I don’t need to be sticky and wet at the same time to make matters worse.” 

He recognizes Luci, mere centimeters from his face and forced to lean his paws against him rather than on the net, and tries to understand his words. Bringing a hand to his forehead, he quickly takes note of the sweat falling down from his hair. 

“Oh,” is all Elfo says at first, followed shortly by; “Hey, it’s not my fault. You- you’re boiling, man, it’s on you.” 

Luci pushes further from him, only to recoil from the net that presses into his back a moment later. He pinches his eyes closed as he says, “Ya, well, your sweating is gross. I’m a demon; I radiate heat. Get over it and stop ma… making my paws all nasty, ya nasty.” 

Ignoring him, Elfo looks around. He notes the interior of the c- wait. Carriage? It looked… different. Maybe it’s because he so rarely gets the opportunity to be actually inside of one, but this looked… different, from a regular carriage. It was covered in dark fabric, rather than just wood, but he could feel the road beneath them moving as it falls behind wherever they were headed. A light hung from the top, and there was no view of the rider- only drapes. 

Other than two shelves on each parallel wall filled with empty jars, there was nothing in the small space but the two of them in an even smaller space. 

Luci was watching him. Elfo noted his void-like fur was matted from what was probably Elfo’s own sweat, and gross as it was, Elfo was tempted to brush it off of him. Instead, he noted Luci’s normally dull yet vivid expression was glossy, his eyes drooping as though from exhaustion. If demons could form bags under their eyes, he had them. 

“How long have we been in here for?” he asks, figuring it must have been a while if he looked like that. 

“Coupl’a hours,” the demon whines. Elfo nods slowly, thinking to himself, when another question strikes him. 

“Bean! What-” 

“She did her best,” Luci cuts him off, his voice low. “Followed us for a while, even got a good punch in on the dude. All for squat.” 

Elfo’s heart might have skipped a beat. “Is she… okay?” 

Luci laughs. It’s more of a wheeze, and the sound makes Elfo flinch. “She’s not coming for us, if that’s what you’re asking for.”

And that’s obviously not what Elfo is asking for, even if it would have been nice to hear she was. He wants to know what happened. He wants to ask if he knows where they’re headed, or what they’re in, or what’s going on. 

Instead, he can’t help but ask, somewhat hestiantly, a question he’d never thought to ask Luci before. “Are…  _ you  _ okay?” 

The question seems to make Luci upset. 

“Fine,” he bites out, looking off to the side. “Just wanna get out of here. Smells.” 

Trying his best to humor him, Elfo goes along. “Like what, my sweat?” 

Luci’s closed his eyes again. He looks really tired, Elfo can’t help but note. Like he was using all of his energy to keep himself upright, rather than against Elfo or the net. “Like bodies,” he says quietly. 

Of course, _ that _ sets off every nerve in his stature. “Wha _ aaaat?” _ Elfo chuckles, voice high in fear. Luci, instead of clarifying his statement, decides that the best way to leave things would be to pass out onto Elfo’s chest. 

Instantly, Elfo picks him up. “Luci?” he meekly calls, shaking the demon. Upon no response, he calls out louder, “Luci!” 

Luci does not open his eyes. 

“Luci, c’mon, buddy, you okay? I mean, obviously you are certainly  _ not _ doing okay, b-but I don’t know what’s wrong so I need you to tell me, okay Luci? Luci?” 

The not-carriage stops moving. Elfo can hear, after a moment of tense silence, the sound of the rider’s side door opening and closing. Footsteps come around to them, and the back doors are unlocked and opened to reveal _ him. _

Elfo’s eyes narrow. “Haven’t we done this before? Aren’t you getting bored?” 

The Exorcist ignores him. He leans into the not-carriage, untying the end of the net from where it was pinned against the wall and dragging them out onto the ground. Hitting the floor suddenly hurts, and Elfo winces, holding onto Luci’s limp form. 

Dragging them silently to an unknown location, Elfo glances behind them. He sees what they were in. “Is that… a hearse?” He asks, and shooting a look back at the Exorcist to see him smirking confirms that. No wonder it looked so different, and Luci could smell dead bodies. That’s was a hearse was  _ designed  _ for. Even Elfwood has hearses, though they were usually pink opposed to black. The feeling of being inside of one leaves a bitter taste in his mouth, and he looks back down at Luci, shaking him gently. He does not stir. 

“What’s wrong with him?” 

The man looks back at them, his gaze landing on the limp demon. “His demonic energy is being sapped,” he explains with a hint of pride in his voice, “by the Holy Net. A demon cannot die from it, but will not wake and cannot use their powers inside of it. A very basic way to trap a demon, I will admit, but I could not get close enough to him to use my Blessed Bottle in that crowd.”

He narrows his eyes up to Elfo. “Of course, with the Elixir of Life out of my grasp, I have no use for you. You just got in my way. I expect you to do nothing but mind your own business as I proceed.” 

Elfo says nothing to this, but wishes he could see the guy _ (what was his name? Something Jo?)  _ fall into another volcano/sandpit. 

They’re dragged in silence a long while, after that. Elfo bitterly holds Luci, if only to have him touching something other than the net that was making him so catatonic. This, of course, means that it’s Elfo’s back being dragged along the rough, bumpy terrain. He does his best to not whimper at every sharp rock that cuts along him. 

As they go, he watches their surroundings, if only to know the way back to the hease. It was getting much more gravelly and uphill, yet it was cold and windy, so he knew they couldn’t be headed to another volcano. 

He was somewhat grateful, then, that Luci was so warm against him, even if he’d never admit it out loud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two for this chapter will be about the same length as this one, and will be out soon :)  
> Let me know if ya,,,,,,, y'know liked it : )


	4. 'Napped (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’d say mornin’, but…” Luci starts, rubbing his eyes and then squinting, glancing around them. “It’s hella dark in here, man. How’d we get here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's part 2! Hope you guys enjoy this conclusion- its shorter than the build-up chapter mainly because I found it hard to split it naturally otherwise.

The sun is starting to drop from the sky when Jo finally stops dragging the net. “We’re here,” he announces for some reason, and Elfo’s eyes land on the rock slab in the centre of the terrain, a pentagram painted red on its surface, surrounded by a stone staircase and- gosh,  _ dozens _ of empty bottles. A dark cloud hung overhead, the only break in the clear blue sky for miles. 

It made Elfo feel very uneasy. 

The Exorcist turns to kneel down infront of the knot keeping the net secure. He goes to grab it, then hesitates, his eyes coldly staring at Elfo. “I am going to open this net,” he says, pulling a knife out of his robe pocket. “You will stay inside, but I will be removing the demon. I have no use for you at the moment, but come another time, an elf may be nothing more than purposeful. So, please. Give me no reason to kill you, and I will not.”

Elfo sees no argument that will not end without a knife in him, so he just nods. Realizing the man was still waiting for something, he looks to Luci. He looks just like he’s asleep, but the slightest twitch at the corner of his eyes betrays this idea. Elfo was still hugging him, almost protectively, whether he had realized it yet or not. 

The man was still waiting. 

Elfo knows what he wants him to do. The idea of betraying Luci,  _ Luci,  _ was almost ridiculous. He’d always thought it would be Luci who betrayed him and Bean. The demon wasn’t just an asshole- he was destructive. Once he got inside Bean’s already headstrong mind, he could make her do anything. He’d seen it; Bean deciding to call it quits, Luci saying,  _ just one more, c’mon, do it,  _ and Bean no longer giving it a second thought. Elfo wasn’t sure if it was the fact that demons were manipulative, or if it was just that Luci was really persuasive in not so many words. Maybe Bean really just wanted someone to encourage her for once, even if it was a demon encouraging her to do the wrong things. 

Either way, the demon was dangerous. He was mean, and invasive, and decisive. He was more harm than company. 

But, Elfo can’t stand by that and nothing more, he knows. He’s seen Luci go out of his way to ensure Bean’s safety, or to keep spirits high ( _ “Hey, don’t look so glum, guys. If we die here, you guys just get to hang out with me in Hell for all eternity,” he’d said once. Sure, it didn’t do much to lift moral, but the thought of that destiny was enough to motivate both Bean and Elfo to survive and see the next day. Elfo was sure he’d done that on purpose, though he wasn’t fully certain why _ .)

Even if Luci was, in Elfo’s opinion, more trouble than he was worth- he was a part of their team. He was a voice, even if Elfo didn’t always agree with what his voice said. He was Bean’s friend. 

He was Elfo’s friend. 

The knife glistens in the Exorcist’s hand. 

With a shaky exhale, Elfo loosens his grip. He holds Luci out towards the knot at the end of the net. 

The man smiles. He unties the knot, opening the end only wide enough to reach his hand through as he makes his grab for Luci. 

Elfo wastes no time. The moment the hand is close enough to him, he tukes Luci under his armpit, grabs it, and he bites. 

The Exorcist cries out in pain, his other hand reaching up with the knife posed to strike. Elfo tugs at the hand with his teeth and hands- it does not budge, and he uses the propulsion off the hand to duck off to the side, dragging the net and Luci with him. The knife strikes the ground right where he was a moment ago. 

Adrenaline coursing through his body, Elfo kicks his heels into the ground and slips off his purposefully untied, too large and pointy shoes. He quickly shoves his smaller, socked feet through the holes in the cross-stitches that make up the netting, lifting it past his knees. Jo makes a grab for the net, and Elfo hops back, small and agile enough to quickly dodge. With his legs out of the net and his hands supporting the weight and Luci under the crook of his arm loosley, he’s able to move. 

And he  _ runs.  _

He books it back down the way they came, running in zig-zags to avoid Jo’s lunging grabs. He couldn’t outrun the man, he knew. He just had to get out of eyesight. 

“You have no idea what you’re meddling in, elf!” cries the Exorcist from just behind him. Elfo leaps to the left, keeping the whole of the net with him as he goes, and missing another swipe at his head. The rocks hurt under his bare feet, but he kept going. “You have no idea what will happen if these little monsters go unchecked! You’ll kill yourself and everyone you love for one- one  _ demon?”  _

“The only person I love is Bean!” Elfo yells back, “And I know she’d be willing to die for this one demon, too!” 

He tucks and rolls over the side of a slope, skidding most of the way down. The net gets stuck on a jutted rock, and Elfo yelps as it tightens at the sudden deadweight. Elfo’s feet are slipped back through the net at the force, and him and Luci fall through the opening the Exorcist made- the two tumble the rest of the way down the rocky hill, sharp pains finding its way all through his body as he makes contact with the ground each roll. 

By the time they stop, his head is ringing. He inhales, and it catches in his neck, a sharp pain preventing the expansion of his lungs. He’s fairly certain he’s broken a rib, but he forces himself up, anyway. Gazing up where they fell from, he can see the opened, tattered net still stuck around the jutted rock. He grimaces, then looks for Luci, seeing him not too far off, closed eyes contorted. The fall must have hurt him in his state, too, but he knew that demons couldn’t normally be hurt by physical dangers. He hoped that was true now, as he holds his breath and hobbles over to the pitch black form. 

“C’mon, bud,” Elfo bites out, grabbing him. “There’s no more net. We just gotta avoid-” 

Luci lets out a moan. It’s so small, only an elf’s ears could catch it. If it didn’t hurt, Elfo would breath out a sigh of relief. Any noise meant he was getting better. 

Elfo looks back up the hill. It would be too steep to climb down- the Exorcist would try to go down and around a different way. They needed to move quickly before he found a way over to them. 

He looks around. There’s an opening further below them that slopes into what looks like a pathway between the edges of two jutted peaks. He could squeeze through them and hide- there was no way he’d make it out without being caught by the Exorcist. Hiding was his best- and most instinctual- plan. 

So, he creeps down the slope carefully, trying not to jostle any pebbles and draw even the slightest attention to himself. It hurts, and he wants to cry out in pain, but bites down any whimpers. Once he’s made it, he squeezes in between the peaks- a tight fit, even for him. It functions almost like a cave, as sheltered as it was between the slabs and the hillside itself. He sits on the dirty ground, leaning against the cold rocks, sending a shiver down his spine. 

He gently lays Luci down on the ground next to him.

Then, it’s his turn to pass out.

* * *

 

When he comes to, he’s both surprised and alarmed to find Luci exactly where he’d left him. Groaning, he sits up and nudges the demon’s side- he’s still warm to the touch, and clearly he was breathing. At the poke, his tail wraps around his lithe body almost protectively. 

Elfo smiles slightly, leaning back against the rocks. “Rest a while, buddy. I don’t think we’re going anywhere, anyway,” he says, holding his ribs. He shoots a glance at the entrance to his little hideout, but all he can see is dust and rocks. 

So, he sits, dozing off every once and a while. He gets cold, after a while, and wraps his arms around his knees. He doesn’t sleep, but enough time passes that he wishes he could. It’s pitch black outside, the sun having completely fallen from the sky, and he closes his eyes to match the darkness- still, he listens attentively for any footsteps or rock falls around them. 

Eventually, he hears a slight scuffling from beside him. It was impossible to see his void-like fur in the dark, but Luci’s glowing eyes illuminated his form well enough. He lets out a loud yawn. 

“I’d say mornin’, but…” Luci starts, rubbing his eyes and then squinting, glancing around them. “It’s hella dark in here, man. How’d we get here?” 

Elfo sighs, wincing slightly. “Well, uh, you passed out. The Exorcist tried to take you over to some… I don’t know what it was. Like, a flat rock slab with steps going up to it, and lots of those bottles you hate surrounding it, but I bit him and ran.” 

The demon is quiet as he mulls this over. He rubs his head. “Oh man. I bet you that’s a Gateway Point, the way some demons are able to cross over into this world and back. He probably set it up with those bottles so any demon that tries going through that way gets sucked up. Bastard turned the damned thing into an alter, too, I bet.” 

At Elfo’s confused stare, Luci rubs his head. “Right, no altars in Elfland. Uh, demons accept sacrifices. Some demons only accept others as their prizes, and only come through the gate if they have a demon sacrificed at the altar in their honour. ‘S probably what he wanted me for, so he could trap a big gun. Jerk.” 

Elfo’s face pales. “Demons eat other demons?” 

“Sure,” Luci yawns again, “or, they just collect them. Depends on the demon, y’know, they’re unique individuals, too.” Luci rubs his tail across the ground, catching fire with it. He holds it out to Elfo. “You look like shit,” he says, eyes narrowed. “You hurt?” 

The Elf reaches his hands out to warm up at the small fire. “I think I broke my rib, and I lost my shoes. I fell on a really sharp stone before, and my heel is killing me. Funny enough, I didn’t even notice it until after I woke up, so it can’t be that bad, but-” 

Luci waves his hands around. “Ya ya ya, shut up. Let me-” he puts his paws on Elfo’s ribs, earning a sharp gasp of surprise and pain from the elf. Luci frowns and retracts his paws. “Yep, one’s cracked and ones broken. If you start walking, it could hit your lung, so you’re better off sitting here,” he explains, crossing his arms, looking troubled. He looks outside. “Is… he still out there?” 

Ah. Question of the night. 

“He might be,” Elfo admits. “I haven’t heard anything for a while, but that guy just pops up wherever.” 

The demon kicks the ground. He grabs his tail, and instantly, Elfo misses the heat. The fire goes out, and at the sound of his little footfalls, the elf starts to panic. “Wait, are- are you leaving? You’re just gonna leave me here?” He tries to stand, holding onto the slab wall, but Luci bats his hand with the end of his tail and forcing him to sit. 

“I am leaving,” he says, eventually. In the darkness, only his cat-like eyes shine. “I’m gonna see if I can make it out of here without getting sacrificed by some asshole with a complex. I’ll try and find help, and then we’ll get out of here. Okay?” 

Elfo swallows. “So… you’ll come back?” he asks quietly, terrified he’d say no. 

Yet all he does is roll his eyes. “Well, if I go back to Dreamland without you, Bean’d probably just make me come all the way back up here and get you, so. Ya, I’m coming back.” 

With that, his only source of light turns away.

* * *

 

He comes back. 

Elfo wonders if it really is only because of Bean, and figures it can’t be. Bean might be the one who makes Luci come back if he’d abandoned him, but Bean would never force Luci to grab a healer (who had clearly been blackmailed by Luci into helping them) and a pillow to hold under his ribs. She’d make Luci come and get him, but she wouldn’t make him set his tail on fire and hold it out to Elfo the whole time they’re being carried out, keeping him warm as he waits for the finally risen sun to do the same job. She would make him come back with Elfo, but she’d expect him to maybe steal a horse to take them back- Luci, instead, got a hold of a medicine carriage that belongs to what was most likely the only healer in the whole of the very small village Luci must have terrorized to get the healer to help them. He thinks this, because as they head into the carriage and are pulled away, the town looks completely abandoned, save for the one set of wide eyes watching from uptop a window just before the curtains are closed. 

Elfo adjusts himself on the pillow to get comfortable, and is surprised at how much he is. The healer is working to patch the cut in his foot, while a rider steers the horses in the direction of Dreamland. Luci himself sit’s at the exit of the carriage, smoking. 

Elfo watches the smoke trail up and behind the carriage, and follows Luci’s eyes upward to see him doing the same. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anybody is curious to what actually happened to Bean, I imagine she's stuck in the medical wing after Big Jo pushed her off the hearse she tried to climb to free her friends, and her legs got run over. Ya, that guy sucks, right?  
> Feel free to leave a request if you have one and tell me if you liked this!


	5. (E)XO(E)XO

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luci's ex shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nobody has written anything with her (if you don't remember her, she's the demon with the white bow in the episode where Luci gets kidnapped) so I figured I'd fix that

“I can’t believe him!” Bean grumbles out loud. “Well, actually I can, because he does stuff like this all the time. It’s just… so unfair!” 

Her horse neighs from under her, and she smiles softly, stroking its mane. Luci, laying on the back of her horse, blows a raspberry into the air. “Oh, come on, Bean. He doesn’t want you to go out looking for trouble, so you know what you should do? Go out looking for trouble anyway!” 

Elfo scoffs from his own horse (who he’d named Upgrade, because he was finally allowed to ride a horse instead of a pony, which was just… awesome). “Bean, no. You know he’s just trying to keep you safe, and to be perfectly candid-” 

“Well, can _ don’t, _ okay?” Luci says, “Bean, what are you gonna do, listen to your old man who gets mad at you for taking your shirt off yet forgot to put on his pants the other day, or the demon sent from hell to personally ensure you live your  _ best _ life?” 

Bean laughs lightly. She looks between Elfo and Luci, her bucked teeth glimmering in the sunlight. “You guys are the best. You’re like the devil and the angel on my shoulders, you know? It’s nice to hear more than one perspective.” 

Elfo’s eyes glow at the praise, and even Luci looks away at her words. 

Upgrade and Bean’s horse stop walking. Elfo’s ears twitch, and a second later, the bushes next to them start to shake. Bean’s eyes narrow at the bush, and Luci hops on her shoulder to get a better view. 

“Who’s there?” She demands, and a moment later, an old man’s head pops out. He pushes the bushes out of the way, stepping out onto the clearing, and their horses back up without command. Elfo’s eyes follow the horse's movement, immediately distriusting the man, whose eyes were practically  _ glowing  _ red. 

“Hello!” Says the man, his voice pitched high yet gravelly, as through being made deep on purpose. He waves a hand erratically, the movement janky and uncoordinated. The hand falls limply back down to his side. “I am but a humble, uh, travelling man! And I see you have such a handsome- I-I mean,  _ adorable _ little kitty right there!” 

Bean’s eyes shoot to Luci on her shoulder, and his paw slaps his forehead, eyes squinted almost in embarrassment. “Oh, boy,” he whimpers, and Bean looks back to the man, eyes narrowing. 

“Can I pet your cat?” The guy asks, and Luci pulls his ears down, burrowing his face in the cloth of Bean’s dirty gown. 

Elfo, eyes darting between the two, realizes something. “Do you… know Luci?” he asks. The man, clearly playing dumb, gasps. 

“Luci? Oh, what a hot- I mean, uh, well-  cute,  _ uh, _ what a cute name!” 

Luci lets out a groan that sounds like he’s been stabbed. “Jesus- Stacianne, get out of here! What the fuck do you want?” 

The man looks panicked, then pissed. His mouth opens wide, and a demoness slithers out, landing on the floor ungracefully. The man crumples to the floor behind her. 

“Oh my gosh!” Elfo cries out, hopping off of his horse and rushing over to the body. He lifts up his head, feeling his chest. “Oh, he’s breathing. Oh, geez.” 

His gaze is aimed for Bean, but instead, lands on the demoness in front of him, back facing to him, brushing off her midnight black fur. She shoots around to look at him, her eyes narrowed in anger, and adjusts the white bow on top of her head. “Of course he’s breathing! I couldn’t exactly possess a dead guy, could I?” she demands, her voice now normal and far more high-pitched than he’s been expecting, “I mean, I could, but that’s just gross. Maybe Luci would stoop that low, but me? Hmph!” 

Luci growls, hopping from Bean’s shoulder and onto the horse’s head. “Oh, come on! I’ve never possessed anybody who was dead. Actually, I have, but not somebody who was dead when I found them, and you know that damn well.” 

The demoness, Stacianne, rolls her eyes. “Whatever. So, I need to get back to hell, now that I’m not stuffed in a bottle. I tried to get back, and what do I find? More bottles! Can you believe it?” 

Luci looks confused, then shoots a look at Elfo, recognition blooming in his eyes. “Oh,” he starts, rubbing his neck. “Ya. That Exorcist guy sure is creative, huh?” 

Stacianne bats her tail on the ground. “Ya, well, that’s not the issue here. How’d he find out where the Gate was to begin with? And how am I supposed to get back? I’m not going near that place!” 

“Wait, the Gate? Isn’t that where you said you were taken when Jo kidnapped you?” Bean asks, and Elfo nods. 

“Ya, and it felt like it was all one big demon trap,” Elfo explains, and the demoness rolls her eyes. 

“I know, greenie. That’s the problem,” she snaps, arms crossed. 

Luci gesticulates in annoyance. “Okay, the Hell do you want me to do about it?” 

“I want you to help me get home, obviously! This issue concerns you, too, so I don’t see why you can’t put a pause in your little…” her eyes dart between the elf and the princess, “what is this, a job or an expedition?” 

Luci’s eyes widen, and he laughs awkwardly as Bean glances at him. He smiles, grimacing, and then shoots a dagger look at her. “Bit of both, now go away.” 

She puts her paws on her hips. “No.” 

There’s a tension floating in the air so powerful Elfo lets out a cough. Bean rubs her chin thoughtfully, considering both sides before pitching in. “Okay, you two, how about this? Me and Elfo will go out with a team of Knights and destroy the bottles, then you can go back home, okay, Stacianne?” 

Stacianne smiles up at her, while Luci turns to her, his face dropping. “What? No!” He cries out, “D-don’t you wanna go disobey your dad or something? You can’t leave me alone here with her! Besides, you won’t be able to find it without a demon, and I’m not going anywhere near that again.” 

Stacianne throws a rock at his head while he’s looking at Bean, and it bounces off of him, leaving him rubbing the spot where it hit. Stacianne sticks her tongue out at him, then looks at Bean and bows. “Princess, I will come with you on your journey to guide you. Since your demon doesn’t seem to care about one of his own, that is.” 

Luci’s jaw drops. “I don’t care about  _ you  _ specifically! Your taste of music is awful, you talk forever about things that could be said in one sentence- or better yet,  _ not at all _ \- and on our date, you put ketchup on your rice!  _ Ketchup! _ That’s disgusting, Stacianne! So you don’t get to go with Bean without me, because you’re an awful influence. Bean, if she’s coming, I’m coming too!” 

Bean, at the same time as Elfo, mumbles,  _ “She’s _ the awful influence?”/ _ ”Date?” _

Stacianne smirks. “Great, then it’s decided. Road trip!” 

Bean watches Luci’s murderous expression with hesitance, already starting to regret her decision.

 

* * *

 

The ride up the mountain is a nightmare. 

Luci, as normal, rides with Bean on the back of her horse. Elfo rides at the front of Upgrade at first, with Stacianne on the back of him. This doesn’t last for long, because Stacianne spent the first hour or so of the ride trying to get up front and annoy Elfo, making fun of his hat and batting the cotton around like a cat. Eventually, he couldn’t take it, and demanded a trade.

So, Elfo began to ride with Bean and Luci was forced to ride with Stacianne. This lasted even less than an hour, as Stacianne started to go on a long-winded rant about why Ketchup should be served on the food instead of in an optional bottle next to it in every context. Luci tried to push her off the horse, and they started to fight, both forgetting that they were on a horse and losing control of it. It dashed away in fright, causing both the demons to fall on the ground, still slapping each other. 

Bean makes one of the Knights go grab the horse, and once it’s returned, Bean tries riding with Stacianne while Luci rides with Elfo on Upgrade. 

“I don’t like her riding with that jerk,” Luci grumbles to Elfo, curled up on the back of the horse but keeping his eyes trained on the demoness, whose horse is riding ahead of theirs to give each other some space that they each badly needed. Elfo follows his gaze over to Stacianne, who sits on the back of Bean’s horse facing them. She waves her paw, and Elfo waves back awkwardly. She then sticks up the middle finger, and Elfo stops waving, eyes narrowed in bemusement. 

“Ya,” Elfo agrees. “She seems… not great.” 

Luci scoffs. “That’s not even half of it. That date we went on? She blackmailed me into it. Don’t ask.” 

Elfo laughs. “She blackmailed you? With what?” 

Luci growls. “I said don’t ask, dude. Come on.” 

Stacianne laughs from up ahead, and Elfo can see Bean looking very uncomfortable as she looks back to stare at the demoness, turning away very quickly at her toothy grin. 

“I don’t even want to know what she’s saying to her,” Bean’s personal demon mumbles, and Elfo seconds that. 

Eventually they make it to the site. The demons stay back with Elfo and Sir Pendergast while Bean and the knights go up ahead to destroy the bottles. Elfo can feel the familiar tension between the two like sparks in the air, and Stacianne, from over on Sir Pendergast’s horse, blows a kiss at Luci, who mimes catching it and pulls down Elfo’s shorts, miming dropping it down there. 

“Luci!” Elfo screeches, pulling his pants back up and spinning to face the demon, who looks like he’s about to blow his own brains out. 

“Elfo, if you’re gonna kill me over that, just do it already. I’m ready for death,” he says, arms opened wide. Elfo rolls his eyes, and Stacianne’s horse has moved closer. 

“Oh, come on, Luci! You die, you just become a pussy ghost,” Stacianne points out. “Oh, but then you can haunt me! Wouldn’t that be fun?” 

Luci gaps. “How do you manage to ruin everything for me?  _ Including _ the embraseful prospect of death?” 

She shrugs. “It’s a gift. You should know, Mr. Present-To-Bean. Ya, she told me about that. Wrapped up in a little gift box for her wedding day? That’s adorable. I wonder, did you or your handlers think of that?” 

The demon stands up on Upgrade, putting up his fists. “Okay, that’s it. C’mon, you and me, lets go. Put up your dukes and square up, bitch.” 

Before Stacianne has time to do anything, Bean’s face appears from just over the clearing. “Okay, it should be safe for you to go home now, Stacy” 

Stacianne’s eyes light up. “Oh, great! Thank you, Beanie!” 

Luci, at the same time as Elfo, mumbles,  _ “Stacy? _ ”/ _ ”Beanie?” _

Stacianne hops off of the horse and races over to bean, climbing on hers instead. “See ya in your nightmares, Luci!” She calls out, and Bean turns the horse away, ready to be done with the whole ordeal. 

Luci sits back down on the horse. Elfo looks him over. “Do you wanna go see her off?” he suggests, and Luci kicks shoves him. “Ow, okay, fair enough.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -While Stacianne rides with Bean, Bean looks so uncomfortable because Stacianne is telling her about how, on their date, Luci ditched her to go makeout with some other demon, and she spat on their foot from all the way over at her table. She spends about half an hour describing how cool it was she landed her spit from so far away, and giving Bean tips.   
> -I didn’t describe Stacianne since we haven’t actually seen her in the show outside of a bottle (yet), but I imagine her with wings and more plump than Luci is. Her ears are more rounded, and she’s taller than him. At least, that’s how I imagined her. That’s probably not what she actually looks like.  
> -She blackmailed Luci into the date because she found out his last name was Furr. You read that right; Luci Furr. You can see why Luci did not want this information to get out, so you can be your ass I’ll be writing a chapter about it.  
> -They forgot the old guy Stacianne was possessing on the floor outside lmao.  
> -I honestly thought her name was Stephanie I had to use the find-edit tool to change all the Stephanies to Stacy so if you see a Steph somewhere in there thats why. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys liked it! Next chapter will be a bit shorter than these last ones. Leave a comment and a kudos if you can!


	6. A Little Confused

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elfo doesn't understand. Luci isn't sure he has the patience to explain it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT PLS READ  
> (Spoilers for this chapter but important for homophobic triggers, skip this if you don't care)
> 
> Okay so this chapter is a little weird mainly because it deals with what could almost be called internalized homophobia? This chapter is about Elfo not understanding the idea of a sexuality that isn't "straight" because as an elf, he's never had to define his sexuality. In Elfwood, at least my version of it, being gay is just... not something that happens. It's not homophobic, it's just... vacancy. Elfwood is a very close-minded society that believes happiness is complacency. But Elfo isn't IN Elfwood anymore, and Luci calls him out on what he believes to be homophobia. I explain this context in the chapter but this warning is mainly if you don't want to deal with even the slightest notion of homophobia in your free-reading time.

“It just sucks that nobody wants to be with me when I’m wearing this crown. Even when I’m not, like, they just- recognize me! What’s up with that? I bet it's my teeth,” Bean grumbles into her beer, taking a swig before slamming it down on the wooden table. A moment later and her whole head is slammed on the table next to it, shaking the whole of it and forcing both Luci and Elfo to move with it. 

Luci  _ tsks,  _ balancing himself out from his spot on the table surface. The bar was crowded tonight, and there had been no extra seats for him (granted, he’d gotten there  _ first, _ but the barkeeper demanded ‘no cats get seats before people’ and Bean hadn’t bothered to defend him, so he’d gotten bored and given it up), but he was light enough to rest on it without tipping it over. “There’s gotta be someone here up for it. What about that guy?” he asks, pointing his tail at a relatively good looking blond at the barstool. 

Bean shakes her head bitterly, and Elfo passively takes a sip of his beer. He hates the idea of where this conversation was going, but got the point that was so clearly made to him long ago- Bean didn’t want to be with him. It hurt, but Elfo did his best to move on. 

“That guy?” Luci asks, and Bean shakes her head again. 

Elfo grips his cup tighter. He respects Bean’s wishes, but that doesn’t make them hurt any less.

“Him?” Luci questions, stretching. 

She pouts. “He turned me down when he saw my dad glaring at him.”

What did she see in them, but not in him?

“Him?” 

A smirk. “Almost.” 

A snort. “Guy in the back?”

“Tried. Recognized me.”

Elfo wants her to be happy. If not with him, then at least with someone else. Even he’s surprised at all the rejections she’s been facing. Who would ever reject Bean?  _ Why? _

“That dude with the mullet?” 

“Oh, ya. I think I fucked him?” 

Elfo had had enough of this. “What, you don’t  _ remember?”  _

Bean smirks. “He wasn’t very memorable. Men with mullets don’t have much to offer me,” she explains, and Elfo groans and slumps against the table further. 

Luci lets out a hearty laugh. “Oh, man, do I know how  _ that _ feels,” he guffaws, taking another sip of his beer.

“Really?” Elfo asks suddenly.  At his and Bean’s blank stare, he sighs in frustration, gesturing at Luci. “Sorry, I just- I’ve never seen a girl with a mullet. Is that popular in Hell?” 

Luci squints, looking Elfo over as though trying to figure out if he’s joking or not. “Are you- what, for real? That’s what you thought I meant?” 

Elfo doesn’t know what else Luci could have meant, so he just scratches his chin awkwardly. 

“Oh, uh, Bean! What about him, Bean?” he asks, attempting to change the topic and avoid Luci’s scrutinizing eyes. Bean, who seems too drunk and down to have noticed, follow’s Elfo’s finger to the first man it landed on, which happened to be a man so old he had a cane and his hand was shaking around his beer. Bean glares back at him, her eyes disapproving, and Elfo chuckles uncomfortably. 

“Hey Bean,” Luci pipes up, his voice holding a slight bite to it, and Elfo got the feeling the aggression was somehow directed towards him, “What about that girl over there, the one with the red hair?” 

Bean takes another sip of her drink, fully finishing it before following his tail. “Tried, but she recognized me last second,” Bean whines. “Everybody recognizes me at sssome point. It’s trash!” 

Luci smiles at her, patting her arm. “And you’re sloshed. You want me to grab you another?” 

Bean smiles at him, roughly passing him her cup and going to pull a coin out of her pockets when Elfo snaps out of his daze. 

“Wait,” he says. Then, he takes another minute for himself, and Bean finds a coin and drops it inside of the cup she’d handed Luci. The demon hops off the table, and Elfo continues to stare at Bean, unprocessing. “You- she-” 

Luci returns, handing Bean the cup and sitting back down on the table. He looks over Elfo’s lost expression, his own turning sour. “I knew it,” Luci growls. “You know, I should have expected this from you. You’re literally the most judgy person I know, and I come from Hell, dude.” 

Elfo blinks, troubled. “I- Luci. At lot of things are… different, than back in Elfwood. I’ve learned a lot since coming here I didn’t know about. And back in Elfwood-”

Luci rolls his eyes. “Ya. Heard it before, bud. Bean, what about the chick with the black hair over on that barstool?”

Bean smiles. “Ya, that’s Sarah. If she were down, trust me, that would be _ beaut.”  _

“Go talk to her! She looks lonely. C’mon, what’s the harm?” 

Bean smiles, pats Luci’s head, then gets up. “You are… _ so _ right!” She proclaims, the stumbles her way over to the lady. 

Luci watches her go, an almost fond look in his eyes. It diminishes the moment it lands on Elfo. 

The elf twists his hands uncomfortably. “So… I’m sorry, I’m just… confused. Really, I swear! I want Bean to be happy, and if- if this is what makes her happy, then… great! It’s just- we’ve never, I mean, Elfwood has never… at least, not that I’m aware of-”

“Had a homo?” Luci finishes for him, eyes in slits. 

Elfo blinks. “Well, yes, we have Homo. He’s a construction worker. But he has a wife, and he’s retired by now. What’s he got to do with this?” 

The demon stares at him for a good minute before his eyes finally widen and he bursts out laughing. “You- are you-” he chuckles, not even able to finish his sentence without giggling over his words loudly. People start to stare at them, and just when Elfo didn’t think he could get more uncomfortable, he feels the eyes boil holes in his back. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just-” he continues giggling, clearly trying his best to calm down and get out legible words. “Elfo, there’s an elf in Elfwood named _ Homo?” _

The elf rubs the back of his neck. “Ya. He’s a nice guy, too. Most elves were, which is kinda why I left.” 

Luci inhales deeply through his slitted nose, exhaling powerfully as though to help calm himself down. “Okay. Elfo, I’m gonna ask you this nicely. Do you know what homosexuality, or gay, or-or  _ any _ bridge terms of the like actually mean?” 

“I know gay means happy!” he provides, “Not sure about the other thing though.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Luci sighs. “Okay. Okay, wow, okay. You weren’t kidding. Elfo, any gender can like any gender, even if its their own. Maybe that wasn’t visible in Elftown, but out in the real world, you’ve got to learn to understand it.”

Elfo considers this. He gazes past Luci over to Bean, sitting at the barstool next to another woman. The woman, Sarah, pulls her hair behind her ears, and Elfo can see her smile and the red tint on her cheeks. Bean’s own smile is large and toothy, her eyes squinted in laughter at a joke she’d probably made herself; yet, even that doesn’t shadow the twinkle in Sarah’s eyes. 

Sarah takes a sip of her drink, and Bean’s eyes flit to her own drink, her long white hair just barely covering the view of her smile. 

“Ya,” says Elfo. “I think I get it.” 

He looks back over to the demon that sits on the table rather than the seat directly ahead, watches as he eyes the empty contents of his now empty beer. His tail drops the cup on the spot next to him, and he looks back to Elfo, eyes suddenly disinterested. “Alright, that’s settled. I’m gonna call it a night, give Bean a little alone time. You coming?” 

Elfo swings the last of his drink and places it on the table, the pushes out the chair and hops to the floor. Luci gets the hint and follows him out the door. 

It’s getting dark out, by now. Elfo was once more grateful that Luci’s eyes had a faint, cat-like glow to them; he’d barely be able to make out his outline otherwise. 

“So…” Elfo decides to start, “the mohawk comment you made earlier… was that about a dude? Are you like Bean?” 

Luci smirks. “What do you think I’m doing in Hell?” 

Elfo stares at him blankly. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

The demon laughs. “Nothing, nothing. Technically, everybody is like Bean. You might be, too. The difference is the whole ‘understanding’ thing I mentioned earlier. Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out.” 

Elfo doesn’t say anything else for the walk back to the castle, but wants to call Luci out on that damn smirk he wears the whole way there. 

He goes to bed with a lot on his mind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls leave a comment im hungry this is my snacc

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment/kudos if you liked!


End file.
